A Cuppa or Two
by fiddle child
Summary: A series of one-shots based of Alice. Updated whenever inspiration strikes.
1. In Which Hatter Wakes Up

**Start of a series of one-shots. Maybe some of them will develop into full-fledged stories if the inspiration fairy beats me over the head, but until then, I'll just post new ones as they pop into my skull! Although, reviews may make them pop up more quickly.....**

**Disclaimer: I own none of these characters.... *sigh***

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Alice isn't there when he wakes up.

That is the only fact that registers with Hatter. His Alice, who has been in his arms every morning for the past few months, is not there. It's still the middle of the night, and they should both be fast asleep. His fingers dig into the pillow beside him for a moment as he tries to comprehend what is going on. Something is terribly wrong – he feels it in the pit of his stomach. Something is different tonight.

The sound of soft sobbing echoes through the apartment. Hatter sits up, fear making his movements anxious. He doesn't seem to be able to move fast enough, the sheets tangled around his legs attempt to keep him tied to the bed. After a few seconds he breaks free and stands up, dashing into the living room.

Relief crashes over Hatter when he sees Alice sitting safely on the sofa, but only for a fleeting moment. She's hunched over, weeping. Hatter is caught up by uncertainty. Should he go to her know? Does she need this time to herself? But his decision is made for him as another wave of tears comes, and Alice begins shaking violently. It's clear that she can't stop.

He pads across the floor with bare feet, sliding next to her and cradling his Alice in his arms. Her fingers twist into the fabric of his t-shirt as she clings to him, continuing to cry. Hatter strokes her hair with one hand while he pulls her body closer to him. The pair stays this way until Alice slowly calms down enough to stop her tears.

"Alice… love, what happened?" Hatter asks in a gentle voice after several minutes. Her head now rests on his shoulder. She feels like a small child sitting on Hatter's lap, as though he's trying to shield her from the world's horrors. Not that he can. Not that anyone can.

With a raspy voice, she tells him, "I saw my father." Hatter knows what's coming next, and it isn't pleasant. Alice has had this dream several times before. " My father and everyone else who was hurt by the queen. No matter what I do, I can't save them. They all die." She stops.

Hatter kisses her forehead. "Darlin', there was nothing you could have done more to save them. You brought down the queen and saved Wonderland. You were brilliant, but you couldn't save them all because no one could. But you can't beat yourself up for it. "

She so badly wants his words to be true. "I'm tired of living with what I saw, Hatter. With what I didn't do. I haven't even had time to process dad's death because I feel like I should have _done_ something, something more. I know there was nothing,, but I'm tired of waking up every morning with this. I just want to stop for a while. Stop life. "

It isn't Alice's words that frighten Hatter. It's her voice. Her listless, flat voice. She sounds like she's ready to just give up. This is not the girl he fell in love with. Alice is in there, but buried beneath her grief and guilt. And Hatter knows that it's up to him to find her again.

He turns her to face him. Their eyes meet and he refuses to let Alice look away. "Love, don't even think that. Don't be absurd – I can't conceive of life without you. "

Her blue eyes fill with tears again. "Hatter, I can't possibly be good for you like this. I'm just… I'm just dragging you down with all of this. You shouldn't want me. You could do-"

But Alice doesn't get to finish what she was going to say. "Alice, I could never do better than you. Don't even say it." His words make the tears start trailing down her cheeks again. She closes her eyes as Hatter reaches out and draws her back to him. His lips brush against her eyelids, then he gently rests his forehead against hers.

"Before you get any ideas about not being worth enough, let me set the record straight, love. I know even less about all this than you. I wasn't exactly raised tenderly in Wonderland. I was taught how to con a living on the streets, not how to love."

Alice leans back and shakes her head. "No, Hatter, you're perfect. I've never felt this cherished by anyone outside my family before, and I've never been able to trust a soul before."

Hatter chuckles and tucks an erstwhile strand of hair behind her ear. "Alice, I learned everything I know about loving someone from you. You may think there was something more you could have done, for Wonderland, for your father, but the truth is there wasn't. The people have already begun telling stories about your courage. Your father obviously loved you enough to protect you at his own expense. Don't you think that says something about the kind of person you are? I'm honored to be able to stand with you."

The pair remains that way until the sun comes up. Hatter knows that this conversation won't solve all of their issues, but he can feel that something inside Alice has quieted. She's at ease. The sense that all will be well fills the living room with calm. They decide to head back to bed as the first rays of sunlight fill the windows.

Hatter stands up and offers his hand to a sleepy Alice. She takes it, and he pulls her close to him. As they walk back to bed, she suddenly stops, whispering in Hatter's ear. "You're my beacon you know. Without your light I don't know what I would do."

He understands exactly how she feels.

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**I shall write you your own one-shot if you can tell me what song I got the inspiration for this piece from :)**


	2. In Which There Is Snow

**Inspired by actual snow in South Carolina! I couldn't get this scene out of my head. **

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It's nearly 2 o'clock when Alice wakes up. Hatter is sitting at the window, transfixed by the sight in front of him.

She can't understand his fascination for a moment. It's just snowing. "What are you looking at?"

He whips his head around to her and grins. "It's, it's gorgeous. I'd have been a better man all my life had I known there were things like this in the world." By this point Alice has moved to sit next to him by the window. Sure, New York is definitely pretty in the snow, but it's just snow.

"You'll be sick of it in a few weeks," she promises. "It will pretty much do this throughout the winter, and trust me, it's not fun to walk to work in it every day."

Hatter's face lights up as though she's told him that he can buy as many hats as he wants. "You mean it keeps doing this? Really? That's the best news I've heard in weeks!" He really does look like a kid at the moment.

"Haven't you ever seen snow before?" Alice asks.

"No, doesn't do this in Wonderland. Hasn't snowed there since before the fall of the knights. I'd heard stories about it, but I hardly believed them. It's so beautiful." He sighed wistfully and stared out the window.

Alice is content to watch Hatter. It's been a long time since she saw anyone this excited over anything as simple as snow. Even the children around the neighborhood get tired of the fluffy, wet stuff pretty quickly. But here is, a 24 year old man, glowing like a kid on Christmas.

A hopeful grin spreads across his face. "Alice, love, you don't think that we could…" His voice drifts off. He doesn't want Alice to think he's silly, but he so wants to…

"Would you like to play in the snow with me? I haven't for years," Alice asks with a knowing grin.

Hatter almost knocks her over with his hug. Luckily they're both sitting. "Sorry love," he chuckles, pulling her up by the hand. He starts towards the door, but Alice pulls him back around to face her. "What?"

She can't help laughing. "Hatter. You're in a t-shirt and boxers. Not that I mind much but I think you'll be cold." He looks down at himself then back up at Alice.

"Oh."

Several minutes later they're both fully dressed and outside. Alice had a difficult time convincing him he really needed the boots and gloves, but now he's secretly grateful for them.

"It's all so _wet_," he says in shock.

"What were you expecting? It's water you know."

He blinks. "Oh, yeah. Huh. Didn't think about that." Hatter walks around, delighted with the sound of crunching snow under his feet. "It's like powder but not." He walks around for a few more minutes, kicking up snow as he does. Alice laughs as he marvels at the white around him. Suddenly he bends down. "There's something that I've always wanted to try when I would hear about the old country," he explains as Alice glances him a quizzical glance.

Alice's cell phone rings. It's her mother. "Hey, Mom. Yeah, I'm staying the weekend with Hatter." Her mother is gone on business for the week and worries about Alice more than either care to admit. "Yeah, we're fine," Alice reassures her, turning towards the apartment. "No, nothing to worry about. We've just been watching movies, relaxing. It finally snowed... I know, but I doubt we'll need the space heater. Ok – ok, Mom, we're fine. Ok, love you too. Bye."

Just as Alice puts the phone back in her pocket something cold and wet hits the back of her head. Whirling around she sees Hatter grinning like an imp. "Well, that was pretty easy." Oh, there will be payback.

They're both soaking half an hour later. Hatter hides behind a bush while Alice has taken shelter on one side of a stoop. She's shivering wet and freezing, but she hasn't laughed this much in a long time. "Truce?" she calls out, hoping Hatter will let up on his constant rain of snow.

"Sure, I'm getting a bit frigid over here," he agrees. They both scamper out of their hiding spots. Hatter's face is bright red, his hair covered in snow, but he's exhilarated. It's as though he reclaimed a small piece of lost childhood here. In this moment, Alice can see the young boy inside the man she's grown to love. She quickly moves in close, tucking herself under his arm.

"I'm really cold," she complains in a teasing voice. "If only I knew how to get warm."

Hatter's mood changes in seconds. "Well, I could think of a few ways to help you, although I'm afraid we'd have to go inside…" He smiles wolfishly right before his lips come down on hers, effectively causing Alice's body temperature to rise. Dramatically.

Before the pair can get carried away, several snowballs hit them at once. They break apart, Hatter looking genuinely annoyed. His expression softens though when he sees three sets of small eyes peeping over the bushes. Several of the local boys have a fascination with their new, slightly unkempt neighbor.

"Oy, you lot!" Hatter yells good-naturedly. "You just hit my girlfriend, you know. That's not nice."

One of the braver boys scampers out from behind the shrubs and shouts back. "But she's a girl! And you were _kissing_ her, mister. That's gross! Cause she's a girl and all." Hatter cracks up. Alice pretends to be hurt.

"That's me they're talking about, you know. Don't you laugh at that!

"He does have a point you know," Hatter muses, smirking when Alice shoots him an annoyed look.

"Oh, now you've done it," she mutters before throwing a snowball at the back of his head. The ensuing battle lasts for half an hour. Hatter and the boys pelt her with snow, although she puts up a good fight. Alice eventually surrenders, completely soaked and exhausted. It's starting to get late anyway.

Hatter goes to shoe the boys back to their homes. "Come on, off with you," he orders with a grin. They protest by tackling Hatter and trying to pin him to the ground. He manages to stand up after a few minutes, with a child hanging off his back and two off his arms. Alice can't help but give into mirth, leaning against a tree for support as she laughs.

Eventually Hatter does shake the boys, and they head back to their homes, anxious to get there before dark. When he turns back towards Alice, she's studying him with a peaceful smile on her face. There's something in her eyes however that makes him pause. "What?" he questions her, but she shakes her head.

"Nothing, just you, that's all. Let's head inside."

They both change into dry clothes. Hatter sets a pot of tea brewing and joins Alice, lounging on the couch. She's been thinking about Hatter. How much fun he was to be around – he'd certainly brought her "inner child" out today. And how natural, how _right_ he seemed with the kids. She'd never really wanted any, but then again she'd never really been with the right person. Maybe with Hatter, though. At least the thought didn't terrify her nearly as much with him.

"You're deep in thought. What's on your mind?" he asks, sliding her into his arms.

Alice leans her head against his shoulder. "Nothing much, just stuff. Girl stuff. You, however, were brilliant today. Did you enjoy the snow?"

He chuckles. "It was lovely, but I don't think I would have appreciated it without you."

"Funny," Alice replies, "I was thinking the same thing."

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**I figured Hatter would have quite a bit of childlike excitement about snow. I hope you enjoyed it! Reviews/comments are really appreciated. **


	3. In Which There Is Coffee

**I couldn't resist writing this when the idea of confronting Hatter with coffee got stuck in my head. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

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Hatter is absolutely horrified.

"Alice, you have no tea!" he yells in a strained voice. She must just have run out. That must be it. There has to be a simple explanation for the complete lack of Hatter's fix. Yes, Alice must have just finished all her tea and will pop back with more when she returns from the store. He just has to wait it out.

When Alice gets back twenty minutes later, she finds Hatter sitting anxiously in her living room, performing rapid hat tricks. The look of relief on his face surprises her. And confuses her. What could possibly have happened while she was gone?

"Hey, you, I thought I told you to make yourself at home. Get something to drink," she insists.

"Couldn't find any tea. You didn't happen to get some, love, did you?"

Alice gives a short laugh. "Wow, didn't know your addiction was that serious. Sorry though, I didn't. I'll get some to have around for you though. No big deal."

Her statement doesn't process for a few seconds. Hatter always keeps some on hand, never actually letting his supply run out. That would be unthinkable. But even if it did, he would immediately restock. Unless his Alice is… no, she couldn't possibly be… the thought is too baffling to even entertain.

"But, don't you need some for yourself?" he asks, only a hint of desperation in his voice.

Shaking her head, Alice replies, "Not really, I only drink it occasionally, when I have a cold or something. I'm much more of a coffee person."

Hatter's stomach churns.

"Don't joke. But please tell me you're joking. _Please_. Seriously, Alice. No green tea? Black? Earl Grey? _Chai_? I'll even settle for those fruit-flavored frivolities you Oysters seem to like so much."

"No, really, I drink coffee. Every day." Obviously the situation is humorous to Alice, but he just doesn't see it. "Haven't you ever noticed before?" she laughs.

The truth is out. Alice is… she's a _coffee person_.

"Oh. Oh god, you're serious." Hatter thinks back over the past month since he's come to the Oyster world and can't once recall Alice drinking tea. "But - that stuff smells vile, Alice. How can you stand it?"

Hatter's expression makes Alice try to swallow her laughter, but she's barely able to. "Have you even tried it?"

Alarm spreads over his face. "No! How could you even ask that?!"

Alice can't believe how honestly upset Hatter is getting over the subject. "Well, will you at least give it a chance?" When he makes a face, she attacks from a different angle. "Don't you trust me enough?"

That pushes Hatter to give in. "_Fine_. But if this does irreparable damage to me…"

"Don't be such a baby," she chides.

"I'm not being a baby, I'm protesting torture," he mutters, but Alice chooses to ignore it.

"Here, you're going to watch this."

Hatter sighs dramatically but follows Alice to the kitchen counter. She plugs the coffee maker into the wall. "Here," she instructs, "fill the pot to this line and pour it in the back here." Hatter does what she says without spirit, but Alice's actions intrigue him despite his prejudice.

"What's that?" he questions, puzzling as to why Alice is holding a miniature shovel.

"I'm scooping out the coffee grounds to brew it. And don't make that face."

"Looks like dirt."

"Shut up."

He continues to watch her with mild interest as she fills the filter with grounds and sets the pot to brew. Equal parts of curiosity and disgust swirl around his face until Alice turns around and glares at him.

"What?"

"I know what you're thinking. And stop it."

"Sorry. I mean it's interesting, but come on. There's no art to it! Everything's so _mechanized_. There's no love in the coffee, Alice. No love."

Alice shakes her head. "That's where you're wrong," she insists. "There's plenty of love in coffee. You have to know how much water to use, what kind of grounds, how not to burn it, the appropriate uses of cream and sugar… you get the idea. Not just anyone can make a good pot of coffee."

Hatter laughs at the intense glow in Alice's eyes. "Fine, I stand corrected. Keep your pants on, love." He pauses; a wicked grin spreads over his face. "Or don't, actually, I wouldn't complain."

Alice pretends to be annoyed and smacks him on the arm. "Mmhmm, right. You need to focus, sir."

"Ok, ok!" He surrenders, hands held up in the air.

"Coffee's almost done anyway," Alice says. Just then the glowing light turns off. Alice pulls down a couple of mugs from the cupboard and pours out the almost black liquid. Hatter wrinkles his nose at the sight of it but quickly rearranges his face when Alice turns back to him.

"He picks up his cup and says, "Here goes nothing," taking a huge sip.

Hatter has to force himself to swallow. "Alice, I'm not sure if this relationship is going to work."

She laughs and takes his mug away. "It's your first time, you should probably use cream and sugar." She adds some to his cup, more than she would ever put in her own, and hands it back to him. His face looks a little less traumatized, but he's still not happy.

"Well?"

Hatter takes a few more sips before looking back at her.

"Can we please get some Earl Grey?"


	4. In Which There Is A Bed

**I think the title says it all. Short chapter, I know, but more will be up soon**!

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"I feel like such a cliché," Alice groans, "but let me change into something more comfortable."

Hatter's wide grin makes Alice blush. "Alright then, hurry, if you must." He's feeling a little silly himself. Both of them are far more excited than they thought they would be. They're both adults – the prospective event shouldn't be inducing giggles in either of them.

Alice goes into the bathroom and emerges a minute later, wearing black shorts and a bright blue tank top. Hatter lets himself admire the form-fitting outfit for a minute. "You know, I did always love that color on you."

She blushes. "Well, shall we then?" She lets her voice drift off, motioning towards the bed. Hatter nods emphatically.

"You know, we only have to do this if you're comfortable with it," he reminds her. Alice laughs.

"Really, I want to."

Alice sits on the bed, but Hatter isn't having that. He climbs up next to her and, standing on his feet, pulls her up to his level.

"Ever done this before?" he asks.

"No. You're the first person I've wanted to do this with." Hatter smiles and kisses Alice quickly.

He then takes her hand and jumps.

The pair spends the next twenty minutes jumping on the bed. Alice's mother had never let her jump on their antique furniture as a kid although she'd always wanted to. Alice is loving this now. Hatter, however, is an expert at this particular activity and shows Alice how to perform a few flips. Then Alice, smiling mischievously, hits Hatter with a pillow, sparking a battle that lasts until they collapse on the floor, laughing.

"Was it how you thought it would be?" Hatter asks, only mostly teasing.

Alice just grins.

"Thank god we have high ceilings."

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**What else did you think they were going to do? Get your mind out of the gutter :D**


	5. In Which There Is A Fight

**Major shout out to RainbowsArePretty for guessing what the first one-shot was based off! Sorry it's taken me this long to give you props.**

**This was a long one. **

**Thank you to everyone who's reviewed/favorited/alerted this story. You keep me writing!**

**Just a note on chronology - these aren't in any particular order. A lot of the earlier ones (and the ones after) actually probably occur after this. **

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"Marry me, Alice."

She's definitely not expecting that.

Hatter stands in front of her, completely soaked, his suit sticking to his body. He doesn't even know where his favorite hat is and doesn't particularly care right now.

Alice's mascara has run making her feel completely ridiculous. One of her heels already broke in half, and to top it all off, she's spent most of the night furiously angry.

The evening had gone completely wrong from the start. The restaurant that Hatter had spent weeks trying to get a table at seemed to have lost their reservation, even though they'd called to confirm the table just this morning. That would have been all right – they could always just go somewhere different – if they hadn't been approached by what looked like a beggar as they were walking down the street. Of course, Hatter had been naturally suspicious of him. In Wonderland this man would have been bad news no matter what. But Alice, naturally, had to be her kind-hearted self. Hatter could almost laugh at the irony if he wasn't so annoyed – it took almost getting killed twice to get her to trust him, but a homeless man on the edge of the street? Her heart went straight out to him. But Hatter had recognized the look of an addict in his eyes. And one thing he knows about addicts is that they won't let anything get between them and a fix. Particularly not self-reliant, stubborn young women.

This time, of course, Hatter's instincts had been right. As soon as the man had them separated slightly away from the street, he went for Alice's purse. She didn't see the knife, but Hatter did. Hatter had pushed her behind him and pushed the man back before she could realize what was going on. But the man had been relentless and tried to dive past Hatter again, this time getting his hand on Alice's arm. And no one touches his Alice. Moments later, he had given the man a broken arm. Not that he particularly meant to break any bones, but these things had a tendency to happen around him.

"What the hell, Hatter?" Alice had yelled as soon as they were away. "Why on earth did you do that to him? It wouldn't have killed me to let him have the purse! The only thing I kept in there was my lipstick and comb anyway."

"It wasn't just a purse, Alice! Did you not see the bloody knife? He would have used that thing on you before you had a chance to react!"

"I can take care of myself, and without severely injuring the other person!"

"Evidently not. You could very easily have been dead or injured without me back there." He had been aware that he was snapping but really didn't care at the time.

Alice hadn't taken that well. "Right, because I'm a helpless girl, right? I don't need you to protect me, damn it! I think I could have handled the old guy, even if he was trying to attack us, which I honestly don't know if he was."

"Knife, Alice, knife! What more do you need to know?"

Alice had stormed off down the street. For the next 10 blocks. Hatter had trailed her by about ten feet, fairly pissed off himself. He couldn't even be chivalrous without this girl thinking he was trying to rob her of her independence. Well, he would just let her burn off her anger for a while.

Unfortunately, neither of them had noticed how far they had walked or in what direction. Alice had been walking blindly, too pissed off to actually pay attention to surroundings, and Hatter had only been making sure he didn't lose sight of her. So neither of them had noticed when one, then another, then a few more men had started follow them. They hadn't exactly noticed that they'd wandered into the wrong neighborhood for a petite, pretty girl and a guy dressed in a slightly flamboyant manner to be wandering in after dark.

A whistle had alerted him to the presence of the group behind him right before he had been knocked to the ground. A quick kick to his ribs had left him gasping for air. He vaguely heard Alice's shout and then the sounds of a fight breaking out. By the time he got back up, several guys had surrounded her, although a few more were lying on the ground in pain. Hatter used his right hook again on one of the circle, letting him get to Alice.

Luckily, a police alarm had sounded down the street just then. Before she could protest, Hatter had grabbed Alice and taken off down an alley. One or two of the guys had followed them by the sound of it, but by the time they had rounded the corner, Hatter and Alice had scrambled up a handy fire escape. They had waited until their attackers had given up, and then carefully climbed to the roof. There they found a ladder down the other side that exited onto another street. After climbing down, they'd run back to a better part of the city to be in.

But Alice still hadn't been happy. "What the hell just happened? Why didn't you wait on the police?"

"Sorry, but I haven't exactly had the best experience with law enforcement. Running seemed like the best idea at the time!"

"Right, Now if those guys find us, we'll be in the same mess again. Just great."

Hatter hadn't believed his ears. "Really? You're mad at me for saving you again?"

"Oh, you saved me? Right! I wasn't the one they knocked out, mister."

"Knocked me out? As if!" he had protested. "I was fine, you were the one they had surrounded. And where the bloody hell is my hat!" A note of panic had crept into his voice with the last question.

"I don't know, I was too busy trying to keep those guys from kicking the crap out of you to notice!" She had recognized the look in his eyes as they shifted back towards the streets they'd just run away from. "_No. Hell_ no. We're not going back there to look for your damned hat."

Hatter had just glared at her. "Fine. Let's get out of here."

The walk back towards their apartment had been tension-filled, both parties equally pissed with each other. Neither was feeling particularly hungry any more. They both just wanted to get home where they could stew in private. It was only twenty more blocks to the apartment, and at least the night was fine outside.

Until it had started to rain.

They had walked along in a moody silence, getting absolutely soaked. Alice's dress was getting ruined, but she didn't want to say a word to Hatter. He was frankly missing his hat and worrying what the rain was doing to it. But soon, as the rain just got worse, they had both realized they needed to get inside. Luckily, a favorite pizza place had been just around the corner. They ducked into it to wait out the rain.

"Are you hungry?" Hatter had grudgingly asked. Alice had just nodded her head. She was determined to be the reasonable one here. Well, at least she wanted to be the less mad of the two. Hatter had ordered their favorite special, a pie with almost everything aside from pineapples and fish on it, and sat down to wait for it to come out.

While they had been sitting, resolutely ignoring each other, Hatter had started stealing glances at Alice. Even though he was exasperated with her and grouchy and in pain, he couldn't help but be taken with the way that raindrops were still falling down her face. She really was the most beautiful person he'd ever met, the most loving, even if she was also the most infuriating. Although he loved that part of her as well.

He had sighed. He really did love her too much to keep up his anger.

"You're not hurt, are you?" he had asked hesitantly. Alice, evidently softening towards him a little herself had assured him that she was ok. Then the pizza had arrived and they'd both dug in, comfortable with each other again.

Unfortunately the rain had showed no sign of stopping by the time they finished. "I don't think there's any hope for it. Should we just walk back as quickly as possible?"

Alice hadn't looked forward to that prospect but agreed. "I guess there's nothing else we can do. Let's make a run for it then."

And they had. It hadn't been as bad as either of them had expected, and they were actually kind of laughing. Sure, they had both been soaking wet and cold, but the ridiculousness of the entire situation had started to set in, lightening both of their moods significantly.

Until Alice's heel broke in half a block from their apartment. It had been the final straw. She'd stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, picked up the shoe, and stared in disbelief.

"These were my favorite pair," she muttered to herself as Hatter turned to see why she had stopped.

She had limped in shock to the stairs leading up to their door. When she got there she sat down on the steps and burst into tears.

Hatter had stood before her, really not sure what was happening. Alice's mood was swinging on a dime and would stop long enough to let him figure out where it was going. Tonight she'd terrified him, made him furious, and melted him. Needless to say, he was confused. All he knew was that he was in love with this girl, running mascara and all.

Which is why Hatter is almost as surprised by his statement as she is. "Wh-what?" she asks, trying to stop crying. She feels beyond stupid at the moment, realizing that she's throwing a tantrum like a kid. She knows she's been over-reacting to everything and generally treating Hatter like crap. And yet here he is, proposing to her.

"Um, yeah. That just sort of… slipped out there. Not really how I intended that to happen." The look on Alice's face quickly makes him back track. "But I meant every word of it, Alice!" he pleads. "I really want to… that is if you'll have me, of course."

Alice just stares at him stupidly from the steps, her mind racing furiously. Sure, if she's honest with herself she loves him and has known it since he showed up in her apartment, hair absurdly tame. But it's only been a few months that they've been together in her world, and even if all the other circumstances were normal – and they're definitely not – people would raise their eyebrows at this. Besides, she's never been the kind of girl that dives headlong into this kind of commitment with so little to base it off –

That thought stops her dead in her frantic train of thought. There's a lot to base it off, actually. Never mind all the times that Hatter's been around for her lately – he saved her life more times than she can count in Wonderland. Even when she'd rejected him he came after her, including jumping through the mirror.

A ludicrous smile spreads across her face as Alice realizes that yes, she does want to have this man around for the rest of her life. Of course she does.

"Alice? You're kind of leaving me hanging here, love."

But she can't wipe the crazy Alice look off her face. Instead she jumps off the steps and into Hatter's arms. She pauses for only a second before kissing him, putting all of her passion and happiness and trust and love into it.

A minute later they break apart, gasping.

"I take it that's a yes?" he asks, a mad grin dancing across his own face.

Alice nods, and Hatter does the only thing a smart man in love can.

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**Let me know your thoughts! And if you have any suggestions, send em my way!**


	6. In Which There Is A Holiday

**So this idea has been bouncing around my brain for a while, and I finally got it down on paper. Enjoy!**

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Hatter doesn't know why Alice has been edgy all day. She had appeared fine when she woke up, but now she is snapping at him snapping at him for small, stupid things. He didn't deserve, for example, to get yelled at for chewing his chips too loudly while she studied. Alice has now locked herself in the bedroom her books spilled out across her bed. He doesn't dare disturb her, especially as he would like to keep his head. Hatter decides to get out of the apartment for a while.

"I'm going to the store, Alice. Need anything?" No response. "Fine," he mutters to himself, "if that's how you're going to be."

Alice hears the door slam shut behind Hatter. She sighs and flops back onto the bed, feeling terrible. She ought to apologize for her insane behavior today – it's not as though it's _Hatter's_ fault that today is her least favorite day of the year. He isn't even aware that it's Valentine's Day. She doesn't want him to feel pressured to do anything for her, but now she's stuck in her misery alone.

Valentine's has always been a disaster for her in the past.

There was Luke when she was 16. He'd dumped her that day in favor of Jenny Greenwood, the head cheerleader. What a cliché. The next year there had been John, but he got far too handsy and Alice had been forced to use her black belt training on him. Flipping your boyfriend tends to put a damper on a "romantic" date. The next few years Alice spent with her mom, watching girly movies and eating chocolate. Then last year she gave Valentine's Day another shot. Her date had shown up drunk. Alice had shut the door in his face.

So Alice doesn't particularly enjoy Valentine's Day.

Walking through Central Park does nothing for Hatter's mood. There seem to be an unusual number of happy couples today. Overt cheesiness always gives him a headache, but today it bothers him even more than usual. Hatter half expects bluebirds to fly by and start singing. Disgusted with everyone around him, Hatter hurries through the park.

When he steps into the store, hatter's eyes are assaulted by pink and red. Flowers, metallic balloons, and lurid magenta bears stare dismally at him from the shelves. Hatter shakes his head, completely confused, and heads back to the more familiar He's not sure exactly what the purpose of all that crap is, but he definitely doesn't want to be involved. Sometimes the complexities of the oyster world delight him. Today is not one of those days.

He grabs a frozen pizza crust, cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms, and peppers. He also picks up the ingredients for brownies. He has no idea what's wrong with Alice, but homemade pizza always cheers her up. Hatter just wishes that he had time to make his own crust.

The cashier chuckles as Hatter goes to pay. "What's so funny, mate?" he asks, quickly growing annoyed.

"Nothing," he replies good-naturedly, "just an odd Valentine's dinner you have there." When Hatter shoots him a confused look, the older man laughs again. "Surely you know it's Valentine's Day? You must be single, otherwise your girlfriend would be pretty mad at you right now." Hatter just grimaces and nods his head. He pays, eager to get out of the oppressive store.

Valentine's Day. That must be what's upsetting Alice. He will never fully understand women as long as he lives. Both here and in Wonderland, they will never come out and say what's on their minds. No, instead they make men try and guess. He sighs and heads back home.

Hatter makes it to the apartment in record time. Alice is still holed up in her room when he walks in the door. Not quite ready to deal with that yet, Hatter makes for the kitchen. He throws together the ingredients and gets the pizza in the oven, with the brownies ready to be put in next.

Alice hears Hatter come in and start cooking. Whatever is in the oven smells fantastic. She realizes that she hasn't eaten for hours when her stomach starts churning at the smell of food. Studying is useless at this point anyway. With a sigh, she pushes herself off the bed and goes to find hatter. He deserves an apology.

However, he's not in the kitchen when she opens the door. It only takes her a few moments to locate him in the small apartment, but she's still surprised to find him on the computer. He normally avoids the machine like the plague, muttering phrases about brain-melting crap whenever he's forced to use one. But right now he's so focused on the screen that he doesn't notice as she walks up behind him. He leans in over his shoulder and catches a glimpse of red before he exits the page.

"Alice," he breaths, shocked to find her out of the bedroom. "I didn't expect- I didn't expect you."

"What on earth were you looking at?" she asks, noting how panicked and nervous he looks.

Hatter briefly considers lying, but he decides that they need to deal with this now. Besides, he can't stomach the idea of lying to this girl. The few times he's tried he only made himself feel sick.

"Alice, why the hell didn't you tell me about this Valentine's Day thing?"

That stops Alice in her tracks. "What?"

"Because if that's why you've been pissed at me all day, I really don't think that's fair. I mean, I will probably forget holidays every now and then, but you at east need to give me a fair opportunity to screw up."

Alice sighs, trying not to lose it completely. "I almost wish you were looking at porn instead," she mumbles, but Hatter doesn't catch it. "I'll be honest. I've had some really bad Valentine's Day experiences, and I didn't event want to risk bringing that into us, into our relationship. Ok?"

Hatter narrows his eyes. "I don't understand. Explain."

"They were assholes, more or less, alright? And so they kind of ruined this day for me, and I didn't want to associate any of those… feelings with you."

Hatter's jaw clenches, and he doesn't look directly at her. "Alice… why – why do you think I would be anything like those guys? Haven't I shown you by now that I'm not like that?"

The tone of his voice hurts, but Alice has to reply. "I – I don't know, Hatter. I'm sorry. I was reacting out of ear, ok I didn't want to risk getting hurt again."

"Don't you trust me?"

She's heard this simple question so many times from Hatter before. And if Alice is honest with herself, she does trust Hatter. So much that it sometimes scares her.

"Of course I do. Sometimes I just forget that it's you, and not someone else," Alice admits in a small voice, facing away from him. She can't bring herself to look at him again and risk seeing the disappointment there in his eyes. She keeps hurting him, no matter how hard she tries not to. A tear escapes from her eye and trails slowly down her cheek.

Hatter is suddenly right behind her, his mouth by her ear. He can't stand seeing her upset, especially when he's the one making her cry. His arm snakes around her waist, pulling her close to him. Her entire body goes rigid at first, but then she relaxes against him.

"Love," he whispers, "don't feel bad on my account. Don't cry. I understand better than you're probably thinking I do. But if part of the problem is that you're forgetting it's me and not any other bloke…" His voice drops down to a growl. "I could always come up with a few ways to help remember exactly who you're with, love."

A flash of heat surges through Alice's body at the promises in that voice. "Hatter, I…" she begins, but a strange rumbling noise interrupts her. Hatter looks her in the eye and busts out laughing as they both realize that the sound is coming from her stomach. Alice blushes but has to laugh as well. "So much for not ruining that moment," she groans, letting her hair fall forward to cover her brilliant red face. Hatter reaches forward and pulls her to him again, and she buries her face in his chest. But he pulls back a little and brushes her hair behind her ears.

"If you're that hungry, you can always just tell me," he teases.

She laughs but grimaces. "I'm actually starving. Being a recluse all day made forget to eat, believe it or not."

"Luckily, the pizza will be done in a few minutes… if you can make until then."

Several hours later they're lounging on the couch, the pizza long gone and the brownies half-eaten. Hatter's head is resting on Alice's lap. She drags her fingers repeatedly through his hair as she tells him about past Valentine's Day disasters. However, she doesn't feel the pain this time as she rehashes the stories. Hatter even makes her laugh a few times with well-aimed sarcastic remarks about the idiots she'd dated before. Before she knows it's even happening, Alice finds herself really enjoying Valentine's Day.

She realizes this as the clock hits midnight. "Hatter, we should really get to sleep. You have work and I have school…." He groans, clearly not wanting to move, but Alice pushes him up. They both head into the kitchen to clean up what's left from dinner.

Alice turns on the dishwasher, the last thing to finish up, and turns to head to bed. But Hatter is standing right in front of her, clearing not intending to let her immediately past him. And she doesn't honestly want to walk away from him when he's looking like this. She wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him, letting herself melt into him. But she's surprised by the restraint, tenderness in his response. She pulls her head back, questioning him with her gaze.

"Love, I don't want you to ever have to be afraid that I'll treat you like they did. You deserve so much better than that. I'll spend the rest of my life showing that to you, no matter how many times or how long it takes. I'll not give up on you."

Alice doesn't have anything to say in response to that, but she finds that no words are needed anyway.

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**Hit that button and let me know what you thought!**


	7. In Which There Is A Park

**Sorry it's been so long between updates! I've been really sick for a few weeks, and then catching up with classes kicked my butt. Here's a little something to tide you over until the weekend! Thank you, all my lovely readers. **

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Hatter lies in the grass, enjoying the warm sunshine for the first time since winter. Spring has finally come to New York, and it seems like half of the city is out celebrating in Central Park. Still, he and Alice have managed to find a quiet patch of grass. It's a testament to how busy they've both been lately that almost as soon as they sat down they fell asleep. Now Hatter is awake, but he's content to enjoy the moment with the sleeping Alice. She's curled against his side in such an innocent, still way that he doesn't dare move. For once everything is peaceful.

The afternoon is perfect.

But perfect things have a tendency to not last. Half an hour later, two kids stumble into Hatter's piece of nature. Hatter sits up suddenly, almost disturbing Alice.

"What's happening?" she mumbles sleepily. Hatter silences her with a kiss pressed into her hair.

"Nothing, love," he murmurs. "Go back to sleep." She does, laying her head in Hatter's lap.

Content that Alice is resting, Hatter turns his attention back to the children. There are two of them, obviously a brother and sister. The boy is a few years older, his brown hair flying in all directions as he chases after his sister. The girl, who can't be older than seven, is a curly-haired moppet. Delighted giggles ripple from her when her brother catches her and swings her up in the air, around and around in circles. This scene is repeated over and over again, even though the boy is clearly tiring. Finally, his sister decides she's quite exhausted herself and throws herself on the ground. She spreads out everywhere, completely in love with everything around her. Her brother settles himself a few feet away from her but stays alert. Nothing and no one will get near that little girl while he's there to stop them.

Hatter's breath catches in his throat. Memories flood his mind, transporting him far away from New York. Some of them are painful, some of them are wonderful. But they all bring a bittersweet ache to Hatter's heart. He closes his eyes, trying to shut out the images.

Alice wakes up when something wet hits her cheek. She sits up, glancing at the sky. There's not a cloud to be seen. Confused, she looks to Hatter. Alice gasps slightly when she sees the tears falling from his eyes.

"Hatter, hon, what's the matter?"

His eyes, red from crying, fly open. He shakes his head, wiping his face with frenzied fingers.

"Nothing, love, it's nothing." Hatter keeps his gaze averted away from the kids. "We should probably go."

Alice doesn't buy it for a second. "Yeah, right. We're not budging until you talk."

Staring at his wife, Hatter knows he's already lost this one. He begins with a deep sigh. "See those two tykes over there?" Alice glances around then nods her head. "It was seeing them."

"I'm confused…"

Hatter shakes his head. "You don't know a lot about my past because I don't exactly volunteer the information, but I had a sister. Just a few years younger than me. If you asked me what she was like, I'd just point at the girl over there. In fact, we probably played out that scene over there more times than I can count. They just reminded me of…. well, a lot of things. That's all."

Alice tries to understand, but she feels like she's missing some piece, a very important piece. "Hatter, you've lost me here. Why would thinking about your sister be a bad thing?" His eyes shut again. Alice waits, taking one of his hands between hers and stroking it, trying to bring Hatter some comfort.

A few minutes pass before he speaks. He doesn't look at Alice as he talks. "There was a fire, before my parents died. It was the fire that destroyed our family home. When I got outside, I found my mother. She was hysterical because she could find her… couldn't find Illiana. She begged me to go inside and save my sister. And I did go back. I looked for almost twenty minutes before I passed out from the smoke. My da' found me and carried me back out, but… we never found her." Hatter finally turns back to Alice, his expression that of a young, terrified, guilty boy. "It was my fault. If I'd just been able to find her, I could have… she would be alive, Alice."

Her heart braking for the tortured man in her arms, Alice pulls him closer. He buries his face in her neck, seeking comfort. She strokes the back of his head, her fingers trailing through his hair.

"Hatter, it wasn't your fault. You couldn't have saved her. You did your best. It wasn't your fault…" Alice continues whispering reassurances to her husband. Slowly the tears stop. After a while, Hatter pulls back.

He gives Alice a half-smile. "I really don't deserve you sometimes, you know that?" When Alice opens her mouth to argue, he covers it with a hand. "No, I know what you're going to say. You're wonderful though, really. I know… I know there was nothing I could have done. But I still miss her. I wish, I just wish I could have still had some of my family left, I guess." Hatter turns to look where the children were, who have by now run off back to their parents. Alice reaches up to try and smooth his hair.

He turns and places a quick kiss on her wrist before she can move away. "Sorry if I spoiled our afternoon out, love."

"Not at all."

They sit for a few more minutes before standing to leave. Hatter folds the blanket back up, while Alice searches for her flip flops she kicked off earlier. Finally they're ready to leave.

Hatter pulls Alice close to him as they walk away, but Alice takes a step back first.

"You know, for whatever it's worth, you've still got me as family." The words are out almost before she thinks.

Hatter smiles, a true melt-your-toes smile this time. "Love, trust me, that's worth more than you know."

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**If you have any ideas you'd like to see as a one-shot, let me know! **


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